July 2019

Dear Family, Friends and Colleagues,

It’s that time of year again…I go for a long bike ride, and ask for your help in the fight to beat cancer. It is a battle that has affected all of us, so I am hoping for your support.

In less than 3 weeks, I will be participating in the 192-mile bike ride across the state of Massachusetts in the Pan Mass Challenge (PMC). 100% of the funds I raise will go directly to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Dana Farber’s goal is to provide compassionate care to children and adults with cancer, while advancing the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure and prevention of the disease.

My personal goal is to raise $25,000 for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This year we have a private donor who is matching all of our donations up to $150,000! For every dollar you give – it gets doubled! How awesome is that!!?

For my 11th year participating in the Pan Mass Challenge, I am dedicating my ride to my friend Sam Shanaman. Sam is a husband, a father, a grandfather, and for 8 years now he has been battling Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). With CLL, bone marrow produces an excess of abnormal white blood cells, preventing the healthy blood cells from fighting infections or clotting blood. At the time of Sam’s diagnosis, there was no cure for CLL. Though he and his family explored countless treatment options, time was running out. Just as the situation began to look dire, Dana Farber came out with a clinical trial for a drug called Ibrutinib that Sam qualified for. The treatment was successful – Sam lives a full life today because of it.

Cancer diagnoses have become so common, but the people we know and love who are affected by cancer are anything but. Sam’s story continuously reminds me of how blessed I am to know such a courageous fighter, and what a critical role Dana Farber plays in battling cancer. Sam Shanaman is alive today due to the advanced research, new therapies, and groundbreaking drugs and protocols carried out by scientists and physicians at Dana Farber.

However, their success is dependent upon people like you, who support researchers with the money desperately needed to continue. We all know someone who loves their life as a father, a mother, a grandparent, a sister, a friend. Let’s do everything we can to find answers for them.

I would be honored to ride in support or memory of your loved ones who have been touched by this disease. Send me their names and they will be written on my riding jersey, and will be in my thoughts every mile that I ride.

You can pledge your support in two ways.

My website: http://profile.pmc.org/PM0182

Or:

Mail a check made out to PMC to my home address:

Peter McKeon

11 Alcott Street

Acton, MA

01720

Let’s not sit back and feel helpless. Let’s do something right now to remember the lives of those we have lost, and honor those who fight against cancer every day. We all know someone. Let’s do this. Together.

With gratitude,

Peter McKeon